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Friday, September 19, 2008

On the road with the original florida kid - week41

"On the Road with the original florida kid"Hello again fellow truckstars! It's Week 41 and.............................you're on the road with the original florida kid !Grandma, Barbie, Pup the wonder dog, and the whole gang here at the ranch give a shout out and a big cowboy howdy "Hey!".........KITCHEN TABLE TALKIN'- Alright grab a cup of Grandma's famous cowboy coffee, an ashtray and strap your ass in, this week's edition is going to get bumpy....In scanning over the mostly boring trucking news headlines I ran across some news articles, blogs and posts both "for" and "against" the mexican trucking fiasco..."Thank God" the House voted down by a huge landslide, the furtherance of it, (meaning, issuing full U.S. access to mexican trucks via operating authority) citing not just understaffed inspection personel, inspection equipment at the border locations, and the changes made to the original standards that should be imposed(meaning, in a secrective new program the mexicans are being allowed to apply and run with little scrutiny from the DOT), pay de-valuation and future job losses of American drivers.I'm not sure, neither is anyone else it appears, why the federal government is pushing so hard for this thing when it is abundantly clear the American people, not just organized labor and truck drivers, do not want this thing to happen....... economists and labor analysts all agree that not only will it devalue(it already has....) the pay scale which is already freakishly low, but in the next few years as American co's have their mexican manufactured products shipped back across by cross-border mexican trucking co's who work for a fraction of the pay an American driver needs to make, many, some say millions, of American drivers will lose their jobs....just like those in the steel and auto industries, not to mention textile manufacturing(guess where Levi's went after they fired 7,000 people a couple of years ago?....) The trend and agenda is very clear......the first mexican truck rolled across the border with a DOT authority on Saturday the 8th of Sept. headed for South Carolina, with many more to follow if the pro mexican forces get their way, putting American drivers out of work. The president says he will veto the House vote.......the House says they'll fight the veto....When you read a blog or an article written by an American trucking co. spokesman or an American driver/blogger saying that this is all a good thing and we should all just be friends, and that the facts are being distorted by organized labor and others(an overwhelming majority from both political parties against mexican trucking)...you have to wonder what interests they really have in the whole thing(there are many)......AND.....how can they serve their own greedy agendas knowing that many of their American brothers and sisters will be getting paid less and end up losing their jobs because of yet another cheap labor source? I've read some of the "pro mexican trucking" blogs and articles written by the few American truckers and often published by American based magazine media co's that also have an interest and that are for this thing. WHY? HOW? Because they are connected to the major carriers involved(who have their own lobbyists....) and that have been involved in orchestrating this thing since the late 80's. I find them, and so do the experts involved, seriously lacking in the true facts they accuse those "against" mexican trucking of using, and more importantly, conviniently leaving out what connection they have to it....most of them stand to profit heavily, even if that means Americans lose jobs....(yeah, so what else is new?).......their argument is that it makes products cheaper here in the U.S., but the business and economic facts say otherwise.......hmmmmm............Whatever the connection is truckstars, you can bet your ass.......IT'S ABOUT MONEY...and the cold brutal reality behind the scenes in the American trucking industry is one of greed and betrayal.....this truth IS now a reality, and WILL be borne out in the coming years as we will, no doubt, face another and perhaps the biggest labor crisis ever.......More on this in future editions as I put all the facts together from interviews with the major players in this issue.....for now truckstars - Please keep up the pressure on our elected officials..here's the tools you'll need to do it; and don't forget to THANK those on our side! The battle is NOT over....(Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), Ranking Member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.Big THANKS to the Sierra Club and the Teamsters! OOIDA too!Dan Little from the uscattlehaulers.com and the OOU....we love ya over here!To find your Representative - www.house.gov - ( just enter your zip) To find your Senators - www.senate.gov - (scroll to your home state) Write them often, tell your friends to write them often......when? Right NOW !Don't forget to think about tryin' to help out an abused kid...every community has em'..... ................they need heroes and truckers are heroes...still.HEALTH DEPARTMENT- (next week)TRUCKSTAR TECH- (next week)Before anything else happens I hope we can all get together on a National Truckers Prayer Day.....the bible says - "if God is for us - then who can be against us?" Do you think for one second that God would be on the side of some mindlessly greedy, earth raping corporation? Do you? I bet He's wondering why 2 or more have not gathered in HIS name and asked for HIS intervention.........Take a minute and PRAY, with me, for our troops around the world - truckstars....whether you agree with the war or not - I think we can ALL agree that these are OUR men and women over there, our KIDS, and, the politics involved is way over my head, not to mention the idea that there's probably a lot going on we DON'T know about, so......and let's not forget about GOD in this equation....it's HIS will I want done, not some profit crazed business man's, not the government's, and damn sure not my own, I'm just not capable..... ..........how 'bout you? You in?Tis' the season for Chuck Wagon Cook-offs!! (http://www.chuckwagon.org/),check their site for the 08' schedule,and be sure to check out (http://www.cowboy.org/ )Okay truckstars - I gotta go - I'm trying to find a haul and a back-haul....(truck payments....know what I mean vern?) So until next week - Remember - NO load and NO paycheck is worth dyin' for !Pray for us all, our nation, the world and the lost..... and try not to worry....... God hears prayers, trust me - I know. As always, I want you to remember - I love ya' and I'm prayin' for ya' ! So - Play nice, drive safe and pull it on home...........Saddle up.....let's ride!.......... ......you're on the road with the original florida kid...............we gown..........

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